Sweetened pan and warm weather

[CTsap]

With the warm weather CT is about to have I'm wondering if I should drain and refrigerate my sweetened 2x3 pan? I won't be boiling again until Friday night (if my sap is still good).

[lafite]

I always protect my concentrate when I don't boil for more than 3 days

[Woodsrover]

Been a couple of days and I won't boil until tomorrow. I just went out and fired up the arch, brought my sweetened pan up to a boil and shut it down. Doing that every couple of days should keep it.

[BSD]

I reduced down my pans as low as i could go safely two days ago and then combined them into 3 of my 5 pans and boiled last night.. Today I'm going to boil down into just one or two of my finish pans. I hate to use up the sweet, but I would hate it more if i lost it.

[Stiets]

I ended up draining my pan and saved the sweet in 2 5 gal SS kegs. I am using this opportunity to clean my pan and make some changes to my oil tank evaporator since I can't get full boil and full GPH with my new 2x4 Smoky Lake Hybrid pan. My syrup tatses good, just a little darker than I would like. If the weather lasts I will be back up and ready for the next run.

[lyford]

Stiets, what gph are you getting on the hybrid pan. This is our first year with the 2x4 SL hybrid pan and homemade arch. I've only gotten about 320 gals thru it and we are cooking around 15 gph. I'm pretty happy with that as we have no preheater and we are using natural draft. I think if we make those improvements we could hit 20 gph.

[lyford]

Stiets, how did you clean your pan. I filled mine with vinegar and water and soaked it. Then I drained the vinegar and refilled it 3x with plan water, draining it each time. I used a small wet dry vac to suck the fluid out of the flues. Just wondering how others are doing this.

[markct]

I always left my evaporator full all season, made sure when I shutdown everything was overfilled then then boiled good, never had a problem even sitting for 4 or 5 days late season. Well this year I boiled Thursday night, then when I went to boil Saturday it seems that the warm weather in the 70s Friday made all the sweet turn to gooey stringy crap. Heard of it happening but never had it happen. Took the whole evaporator apart and steam cleaned it, then boiled a few hours Sunday with just water hopefully I got everything out, plan to boil again today

[Stiets]

Stiets, what gph are you getting on the hybrid pan. This is our first year with the 2x4 SL hybrid pan and homemade arch. I've only gotten about 320 gals thru it and we are cooking around 15 gph. I'm pretty happy with that as we have no preheater and we are using natural draft. I think if we make those improvements we could hit 20 gph.

We are getting 10 - 12 gph. 15 if I run my blower and add thin split wood every 7-10 mins. The syrup pan and the front few inches of the flues boil like crazy. I can't get full boil in the back of the flues like they do on videos posted of the same pan with natural air flow. I used the old oil tank evaporator we had for the 2x4 flat single batch pan we were using last year. It has a 6" stove pipe coming off the back wall with an elbow. I am not sure if that is not enough air flow and it is restricting me when I don't have the blower on. And or its the stove pipe coming out the back wall and not out the top of the evaporator right behind the pan. I did not have a damper in the stove pipe before but installed one yesterday to see if that make a difference to hold back some of the heat when the blower is on. I am almost thinking the blower is to strong and blowing all the heat out, just a thought.

What size stove pipe do you have?

[Stiets]

Stiets, how did you clean your pan. I filled mine with vinegar and water and soaked it. Then I drained the vinegar and refilled it 3x with plan water, draining it each time. I used a small wet dry vac to suck the fluid out of the flues. Just wondering how others are doing this.

Right now I just have the pan emptied and washed out everything I could. I plan to use a 50/50 vinegar water mix to soak the caked up materials in the syrup pan. I think I pull of the pan and hose it out good. I did buy some acid cleaner from a vendor at the annual CT Maple Producer meeting but don't want to use that till the end of the season.

[lyford]

Stiets, I have 8 inch pipe and I fire about every 7 min, the section of flue pan opposite from where the fresh sap is added boils so hard it jumps over the side of the pan.

[Stiets]

Stiets, I have 8 inch pipe and I fire about every 7 min, the section of flue pan opposite from where the fresh sap is added boils so hard it jumps over the side of the pan.

That's what I am looking for, jumping popping fresh sap. I am new with this pan but it seems to take a long time to draw off and long time between draw offs. The sap is taking to long to boil down and with the syrup pan section too hot the syrup is dark. Sorry for all the questions. Haven't had time to post pictures, ask questions and talk to anyone else with the same pan. Thank you in advance.

How long in between you draw offs? And about how much do you pull off at a time?

What is the depth of tour sap in the pan?

Sounds like you are in good space. Just need to add a blower to add in air and you should be close to 20 ghp.

[lyford]

It did take awhile for the first drawoff, maybe 120-150 gallons. The drawoffs have been kinda erratic in volume and the time in between. Ive drawn a quart to a half gallon at a time. I'm new to this too so I'm not really sure what I'm doing. I feel like I should be having more draws as well. I am drawing off a little light and finishing on propane. It seems to me that everytime I stop boilling there is some mixing between sections and i think that screws up the draws. I may drawoff some sweet before I finish the next boil and then pour it back in at the valve as I start the following boil. When I emptied my pans to clean them the sweet I drained boiled down to ~3gal of syrup. Not sure if thats normal or not.

[lyford]

just saw the other ?, I keep the sap around 1.5 -2 inches, I have the SL float box and I keep it set to the center notch. In between draws may be a couple hrs, and i agree it is helpful talking to somebody with the same pan.

[Stiets]

just saw the other ?, I keep the sap around 1.5 -2 inches, I have the SL float box and I keep it set to the center notch. In between draws may be a couple hrs, and i agree it is helpful talking to somebody with the same pan.

Thank you very much lyford. I had a local old time syrup maker stop and check out my new pan. He questioned why there was not any "doors" you could open and close the holes from the different sections. He had an old 2x6 Leader setup that had "doors or gates" he could slide up and down to lock in the syrup and finish off. I saw his pan a few years ago and showed him a stainless spatula that I can place in front of the hole going into the first or second hole of the syrup pan to stop fresh sap from mixing while drawing off. He liked that idea. I don't think it is required to do so but might help to stop mixing. Just don't pull off too much and burn the pan.

I have been running at the same depth also. I do think it is normal to get that amout of syrup from the sweet. At the end of the season I plan to drain the sweet and finish down on the kitchen stove. It will be nice to get a 3 gallon batch at the end. This year has been a big learning year for me since I am using a new continuous flow pan and not a flat single batch pan. Taking a lot of notes and going to build a new oil tank evaporator from scratch once the season is over and the new sugar shack it finished and painted.

[lyford]

Yeah its my first year goin from a flat pan batch style to continuous flow. Lots of learning to do. I actually called Jim over at SL, he plans on having plugs available this summer to prevent any mixing between sections. I'll have to wait and see what he comes up with. Ive called and spoke with Jim directly 3-4 times and he has been extremely patient and helpful with my newbie questions.

[lisound]

try floating a few bags of sealed ice? i did that today in my 2x4 flat pan. Shutdown last night and want to boil anything i get today and tomorrow.
I've seen a few guys freeze water bottles and drop them in the sections. Buys you a little time if it's really warm out.